Familial Ruptures
by Winterluna
Summary: Max and Liz save a kidnapped kid: Booth's son. The pod squad helps Booth track down his son's kidnapper. Liz makes a connection with Brennan and reconnects with Isabel. Michael and Maria bond over an invalid. Kyle learns to control his powers.
1. Chapter 1

"Max, they're taking that kid!" Liz exclaimed.

"We have to save him," Max said, following them at a safe distance.

"Just don't think he's Zan."

"He's human, and he looks the right age."

"The only way would be if he looked like Tess, and he looked more like you. Children might change as they get older…"

"We're saving a child, Liz. No Biology lesson." Max said, stealthily snuck around and saw the captors entering the building. He waited until the door was completely closed to approach. He motioned to a broken window on a ledge above. When he touched Liz, she had a premonition.

"I saw him getting a hot poker to his chest. His screams were…"

Max hugged her briefly. "He's going to be okay." He found his way silently onto the tin ledge and they both perched, looking at the scene before them.

"Tell me where your father is," a voice said, testing a hot poker in a fire. Liz pointed to it.

"We can't do this right now. We have to know where to take him." Max nodded at her whisper. "But we should crash the party before that kid gets fried." Liz paused. "He's not Zan."

"I know. I just…"

"Want to repent what happened to Zan? I understand that, but we don't know anything about this kid. Max, you saved Zan's life. You should only save this kid because it's the right thing to do." She looked at him and he nodded; Liz could feel Max's heart break. Max knew that Liz was right: he did right by Zan and he would save this kid because it's what he should do because of what-who he is.

"Where is my father?" the boy asked. Max's heart broke even more.

"He's very far away. He's not here. I was hoping you would tell me where your father is." He continued poking the fire with the poker, and Liz's heart raced. "We know he works for the FBI."

Liz gasped and looked at Max. "Max, if we save this kid, we have to return him to his father, who could turn us in. They obviously hate him, so he must be important. And what if he knows about Agent Pierce or the Special Unit?"

"Liz, he's an innocent kid. They might figure us out, but we can't let this kid suffer. I'd rather give my life for this kid. He's important to someone," Max replied. "Too late. He has already taken the poker from the fire." He busted the window, and the captor put the poker to the window. Max slowly climbed down, helping Liz along the way.

"You aren't his parents, are you?" The captor said, looking thrilled.

"Leave the kid alone," Max warned.

"That's sweet. Do you even know him?"

"He's a kid. What kind of sick person does that?" He gestured to the white-hot poker.

"His father is near the top of the FBI list. But he's not there anymore. Something similar to a sabbatical, but not exactly that. Which means that he is somewhere in the world, and his son might know where."

"I'd rather break into the FBI than try to see where it is through torture. Unless there is something else that makes you want this kid? To get back at the father?" Liz offered. "What did he do to you?" she added at his silent nod.

"He brought down my friends."

"Serial killers? I don't blame him. Did you also break out of jail?" Max asked, staring at him intently.

"Why would I tell you this?"

"Just out of the interest of a wanted man to another."

"What did you do?"

"Alienation to an extreme." When the captor looked at him oddly, Max added, "Just a series of things that lead up to one, huge federal crime. I'm at the top of the list. Ask anyone in the FBI."

"Max, I don't think that's a good idea to tell that to a kid of the FBI," Liz advised softly.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth. Know him?"

"No, but I do know about people who don't exist, but are a part of the FBI," Max answered. "Back to the point, don't hurt…what's his name?"

"Parker Booth. Son of Special Agent Seeley Booth. He can tell me where his father is."

"He's just a frightened child. But I hear that Special Agents get really cranky when their sons get kidnapped." Max nodded pointedly, and many things happened at once. Liz jumped to protect the kid and hide his eyes from what Max would do. He then blasted the both of them, disintegrated the guns into a pipe nearby, and cooled the poker. "You can open your eyes, Parker. And not you, Liz."

Liz snorted softly, took out a knife, and freed the child before backing away from him and asking him, "Can I carry you?" The child nodded silently. Liz picked him up and began to walk out in front of Max. "I know this might look a little weird," she said, "but don't say anything." She carried them the five blocks to the car, insisting on carrying him all the way. She strapped the now-sleeping child into the seat before entering the car. "What do we do now?"

"We now take him to the FBI and take him to his father," Max said, looking anxious.

* * *

Temperance Brennan was doing her job well. She had just finished examining a body when a familiar number appeared on her phone: FBI. "Brennan," she answered.

"You are to take a flight to Afghanistan," the voice said, sounding concerned.

"To see Booth? I'm in the middle of an anthropologic investigation."

"He trusts you. You need to send a message to him."

"I'm _not_ a postal service. I _am_ the head of the anthropologic investigation here. There is no way that I can just up and leave."

"You're replaceable to them, or kind of. But you aren't replaceable to Booth. He'll trust that your information will be correct."

"It won't matter if I tell him the source."

"But he might be more comforted by the fact that it has been told by a friend."

"Besides, no one has jurisdiction on an army base outside of the country. I won't be able to get in."

"There are supposedly remains that have been there unstudied. You're going to study those remains while sharing some information with him."

"He's not FBI now."

"It's more personal. His son has been kidnapped."

"I said I wasn't a postal service. Especially not one of bad news."

"You're going to do this." And the phone clicked with a hang-up.

Bones looked out at the site and sighed. She knew that she would have to do this. It was wrong to see him before when they said they would, by the coffee cart. But she knew she had to do it because the voice on the phone was right; Booth would be more comfortable hearing it from her rather than from an FBI robot. Her phone buzzed, and she opened it; it was a flight number and time. She sighed, realizing she had four hours until the flight would leave. She sighed again to wash out her feelings and decided that she would go. She hurriedly rushed into her tent and began to pack her things.

* * *

She saw the frightened child, wondering what they were going to do in the dim light of the shady apartment. "Max, you shouldn't have told him about us. Now he thinks we kidnapped him from the other people, and we can't waltz into the FBI, even with a rescued kid of a former FBI agent. So, what do we do?"

"We get straight to the father, and then he might be able to get us off that list if we can prove to him that the person who took out the Special Unit was our protector."

"A protector who kills?"

"Kills for us. We have to prove that we aren't dangerous."

"Liz, I'd rather still be on that list before I use a kid as a bargaining chip. Especially one who has just been tortured. We need to find the father. He's in danger, and we are supposed to help people and avoid FBI attention."

"So, we are supposed to avoid FBI attention by helping one of them?" Liz looked at the peacefully sleeping child wonderingly.

"We can ask the son where his father is after gaining his trust."

"How long will that take?" Liz looked back at her husband tiredly.

"Good point. But I don't want this agent to die, even if he's on the wrong side."

"Is that just for the kid to tell his father?" Liz asked, lowering her voice further.

"No, Liz. We have to help this father and this kid."

"He's FBI. Max, he's going to constantly be in danger."

"If this is a bunch of serial killers, the least we can do is protect them from the serial killers and then move away from DC forever. We won't be able to come back."

"So, how long are we going to stay here?" Liz asked, looking at him.

"Until we get all of them. Let's not tell Michael."

"Tell me what?" Michael asked, biting an apple.

"Your move," Liz answered, moving to check the waking child.

* * *

Bones looked at the scene before her, almost hiding at the back of the training tent. She saw a form that she could do herself. She waited anxiously for path to clear, fighting back tears. When someone brought attention to her, she took a deep breath and faced him. His face had worry and anger on it.

"You said you'd hug me if you were scared. Now's the time." She walked up to him with big strides. "I was sent from the FBI to be the bearer of bad news." He enveloped her and she swallowed harshly. "Parker has been kidnapped," she whispered into his ear, covering her mouth so the persons behind him couldn't see. He hugged her closer and whispered. "My tent, ten minutes. Get directions," he pulled away, "unless you can use anthropology to find it."

"Using the usual format of an army base and knowing that the admiral or general of this base will be on the left or right, leaving the next in command as bait in the center. That's you."

"She's good." At Booth's insistent glare, he added, "Sir."

Bones could see impatience but left and went to the tent to wait out the ten minutes.

"Did the FBI rope you into this?" Bones looked at him and he continued. "Bones, you know how to get out of this situation. There must be another reason why you came."

"You know that I don't like psychology. I made it here to look at some rumored remains. But the FBI truly sent me here to tell me that your son is missing. It was reported two days ago, and he hadn't been seen twelve hours before that."

"Who reported it?"

"Rebecca. She said that she went out to get something while leaving Parker at school. The last time he was seen was by his teacher. He disappeared from his school." She stood up in case he wanted a hug, but she stood awkwardly next to his camp bed.

"Rebecca did this?" He took shallow breaths and could barely talk.

"Booth, it's no one's fault."

"I would blame myself if I was in the same position. Hell, I would blame you!" He began to pace.

"I'm so sorry." She began to exit, fighting back tears. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her waist. "The FBI wants me to go back and see what I can find. They found a body of a boy and he might have been killed the same way." Her voice was unconvincing to him, even though it was level.

"Oh, God."

"They want me to go back and investigate with another FBI agent. And then I'll return to my trip."

He let her go and she turned around. "Find my son," he said, almost as if a growl. She recognized it when cases got too personal.

"There's something else. I got some strings pulled so that you can be at home during the investigation. I'll keep you informed all the way."

"What about the bones here?"

"There aren't any. I've been here a couple of days; avoiding you. I've searched all over the place, but there aren't any remains, so I have to leave. You have two hours to pack and then we leave for home."

"You hid from me?"

"Booth, I'll explain on the plane."

"No, now!" Bones finally shuddered at his words.

"I would have to leave when I told you because I knew you'd go back anyway. So I had to wait until I confirmed there were no remains. Get packed." She left running, sobbing.


	2. Chapter 2

Bones sat awkwardly next to her partner. She didn't know what to say. They were supposed to be separated for a year, but when this happened, she didn't know what to say. And she didn't want to use psychology as an asset to help her begin a conversation next to her tense former partner. She often opened her mouth and tried to start something and then closed it again.

"Okay, I'm tired of this, so I'm going to start a conversation. How have you been?"

"I've been interested. I've been studying a lot of bones. Well, I have a lot of people that call themselves Forensic Anthropologists that don't even know a difference in age or even the difference of a male and a female in five hundred-year-old bones."

"What does that make you feel?"

"I'm not going into psychology, Booth, that's your area of expertise." She moved a little away from him and looked out the window, but found it covered in white. Droplets of moisture clung to the bottom edge of the sill, and she began to study it as though it were more than moisture from a cloud.

It was silent and Booth knew that it would be on him to start the conversation. He could have used the army plane's noise as an excuse to not talk, but the commercial flight back to DC allowed time to talk, but there wasn't anything to say other than small talk. "So, you had a good trip?" he asked slowly and carefully.

"Yeah. It was nice not to have to see the murderer or the family face-to-face. Well, talk to them."

"No psychology of a murder. Just plain bones for you to study. Must be a nice difference."

"It was," Bones answered, not looking up. "I'm sorry that they made me go to see you about the whole…thing."

"The kidnapping of my son. It happens to a lot of people. Why not to me?"

"Because you wouldn't let anything happen to him if you were there."

"So now you're saying that as soon as I turn my back, my son will be gone and the FBI will call you to solve the murder."

"I've only been called because I'm an anthropologic consultant and they found a set of bones that could be linked to your son's disappearance. I've been sent to find their killer which will lead them to your son. I just don't know who the FBI agent will be sent to help me."

"You want it to be me?" he asked, smiling at her as though he read her mind.

"You're technically on a sabbatical while doing your country a favor. You can't solve a case."

"What about a consultant?"

"Not to mention the fact that they will take you off the case if you are involved in some way. I think the son part about it will be enough to take you off the case. But I can keep you informed, so I plan to do that."

"And if you don't like the FBI agent?"

"I'll say that I'm too involved because it's involving the son of my former partner. Thus, I'm too involved because I care for his safety and by default his son's."

"And what if they insist that you are on the case because you're the best Forensic Anthropologist?"

"I can complain and take myself off the case and ship myself back to the Islands. You can go back to your boys to finish off the year. And then we can meet at the coffee cart like we planned."

"Well, I planned for that tense goodbye and the tense return so that we could go on being normal. How do we know that the intensity of this situation won't do something to us?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, Bones."

"Well, you brought it up and it probably has to do with psychology, so that's your territory."

"I said I don't know." Booth turned away and began to fall asleep.

* * *

"Max, what are we going to do with this kid?" Liz asked. "We can't walk into the FBI and just hand over the kid and use it as a bargaining chip. I bet there are a lot of Wanted posters of us on their walls. Nor can we just set him at the front door. Who might know what he'll tell if someone gets a hand on him, especially if they're from the Special Unit. If we don't turn him in soon, we might get caught for kidnapping him instead of those killers."

"We need to see if we can hand him over to his father directly and talk to him and only him."

"We don't know what he looks like. And he's away from DC."

"Can't you just flash on him? I mean, you did it with me before."

"That's because I was seeing what you were going to see, Max. We don't know what's going to happen to this kid. I can't control these premonitions unless I'm touching the subject and there's something I should see." She relaxed back into the couch she was in opposite of Max and drank her tea, heated by Max's (alien) hand.

"Isabel."

"We'd need a picture, and we don't know what we'd see from it. She generally uses it to get an idea of the person, not to find out where they are."

"We can get Parker to get a picture of his father. Liz, it's the only thing that we have right now." He thought for a moment about how it could work. He knew that Isabel could communicate with the person, but they wouldn't know who he is. "We could ask Parker for a safe word."

"It's a long shot that he's even sleeping. Or delirious," she added after the thought of the White Room. She took a deep breath and studied the kid. He was playing solitaire with the cards that she had given him. He looked clearly bored, but he rejected the books. "Fine, we'll try it. You get Isabel. I'll get the kid to get us a picture."

"Liz, you might want to call him Parker," Max advised, standing up.

"But it's my last name. I'll get confused." Max stared at her upon closing the door and she ceded. She slowly walked over to the boy and kneeled next to him at the coffee table. He did nothing to acknowledge her. She exhaled deeply and began to make an acquaintance with him. "Parker, can I get you anything?"

"Are you going to free me?" he asked, still looking at his cards.

"I was going to hand you to your father."

"If you're the bad guys, why are you giving me to my father, but not to the FBI?"

"We're just here to help. We thought that you might want to see your father before seeing a bunch of people you don't know."

"What about my mother?" He looked up at her with hollow eyes, and she nearly shuddered with how tortured the soul was.

"Your father is FBI and in the army, so he'll have tactical training to help us catch the people who caught you. We're not just here to help you; we're here to help your father, too. So, we'll need to meet him, too. And you'll get us to your father." He looked back at his cards and began to play again. "Look, most boys look more to their fathers for guidance after or during a stressful situation because life isn't easy. So they tend to trust their fathers more. I wanted to give you to your father so that you could be more protected by him because of the father figure he is to you and because of his training, he'll be able to protect you."

"Then why did he leave me out here so that I could get kidnapped?" the child looked up at Liz, nearly crying.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you that. You need to ask your father that," Liz replied. "Do you want a hug?" The kid hesitated, but nodded, and Liz took him into a hug for a moment until his shudders subsided. "If you want to find your father, I need you to get something for me." The kid nodded slowly, and Liz asked for the picture.

* * *

_It was just another day at the office: playing semantics with Bones, making snarky comments at Hodgins, flirting with Camille, and asking Angela if there was a face she could match to a skull. But then I was in my own office studying the picture of my son. I felt a presence lurking in the corner of my office, and I looked up and set the picture on my desk._

"_Who are you?"_

"_Just a mirage. I'm not a part of your dream, but I can observe it and you."_

"_Like a dream-stalker."_

"_I prefer the term mirage. In fact, if you aren't looking, you won't find me." She smiled, and I noticed how beautiful she was. But she seemed much younger than me by at least ten years. I laughed at the thought that Bones would have aged her if she were bones. "Why did you just laugh?"_

"_Just thinking about my partner."_

"_I don't have a lot of time, so I have to ask you something," the woman said, moving forward and suddenly looking like she's here for a purpose. "Where are you?"_

"_This can't be dream. Why would you want to stalk me?"_

"_Just tell me where you are. I can find your son."_

"_How did you know that I…"_

"_Parker Booth, nine-years-old, blond hair, blue eyes, wears a baseball cap. He's safe with my family. If you tell me where you are, I can bring him to you."_

"_How do you know this?" My breath became shallow and I didn't want to tell her this. Something was telling me that I shouldn't tell her._

"_Just answer it!" she screamed. "I don't have a lot of time."_

"_I'm heading back to Dulles Airport from Frankfurt…" I was about to give her the time when she disappeared.

* * *

_

"Dulles Airport. He's coming in from Germany; Frankfurt. I didn't get anything more than that," Isabel said quickly, out of breath. "We have to find out when he's coming." Isabel looked at her brother. She relaxed with Liz's relaxing back-rub.

"Parker, we are going to the airport. We need you there. Isabel, you need to go, too. He'll think that we took him from you if he doesn't see you. Max, stay here." Max nodded and Liz followed Isabel out the door, making sure Parker was right in front of her. When they were situated in the car, Isabel driving and Liz in the back seat with Parker, Liz decided it was time for pleasantries and how things would go. "Thank you so much, Parker. We have you with your father when we get to the airport." The kid nodded and Liz continued with the dreaded.

"Parker, we can't have you getting away from us. We want to help you and your father, so please don't get away from us. If we can work with you two, then we can stop the bad guys from getting to your father or you again."

"You want me to help you so that you can get the people who did this to me, even though you sort of kept me captive? You're using me."

"To save your life, yes," Isabel answered, so intensely that Parker was silenced.

"Isabel, he's only nine. Maria was one thing, but we _are_ trying to get his trust."

* * *

"12:45 am from Delta Airlines. We have about five hours to go," Isabel announced.

"I'll call Max. Watch the kid while I make it." Liz walked across the large hall to the pay phones while Isabel went to buy the kid some food. "Hi."

"Did you find out the time?"

"Yeah. He gets here at 12:45. We're going to wait here for him."

"Alright. Be careful. Don't pay with credit cards, avoid security cameras if possible…"

"Max, I know the drill. We've done this before. I'll see what we can do with the father. See if we can get any help from him. We are not going to let this happen to him, even if he is FBI. We'll make sure they're safe and move on. We'll have as little contact as possible. And then we'll move on like always."

"Alright, Liz."

"By the way, my last name is Evans. Love you!" and she hung up the phone and walked back over to Isabel and Parker, who was shying away from her.

"Please don't tell me that you and Max have some sort of game going on, do you?" Isabel said with disgust.

"No, he's making fun of the fact that his name is Parker."

Isabel nodded knowingly before addressing Parker. "So, we're going to be here awhile. Can we trust that you won't run away on us?"

"Isabel!"

"Why not get to the good parts first?" Isabel reasoned cheerily.

"Liz made me go before we came, so I don't think that I will."


	3. Chapter 3

"There he is," Parker said, pointing his finger to a muscular man.

"Go ahead," Isabel, who was secretly enjoying the kid, responded. Liz noted the time and said that they should wait at the security gates.

"And this is why I'm partially glad why we ran away; doing good deeds…"

"And avoiding the law; I've heard it before. His father looks really happy," Isabel noted, smiling.

"That's why," Liz affirmed.

* * *

Booth looked up dejectedly, though his pace was quick. He saw something darting around the passengers and he lowered his head again. But he looked up expectantly as he saw his son coming to him. His heart wrenched, wondering if it was a mirage like the woman he saw in his dream. But when he dropped his bags to pick up the boy, he knew that his son was safe and hadn't been very hurt. He hugged his son close to him, shutting his eyes so that he wouldn't be fooled by them. After some moments, he let Bones greet his son before asking Parker about what happened.

"This family found me, and they've been trying to find out who you are," he answered. "Two sisters took me here to make sure I didn't run away from them."

Booth looked up at the crowd to see who was there. He found most of the people he noticed from the plane, but he noticed two women standing near a café from where his son ran. One of them was the beautiful mirage from his dream. The other looked fairly plain to him with brown hair and eyes, and he noticed she was the same age as her companion. Both had wedding bands on them. He walked up to them, searching for his gun.

"We can deflect a gun without drawing one of our own, and we brought your son to you without threatening you. We aren't the killers," Liz concluded. "We just need to talk to you." Both women looked at him intently, and Booth answered:

"This is my partner, Dr. Temperance Brennan, an anthropologist."

"Biology, although I wasn't able to get a college education," Liz answered, extending her hand. "Can we talk somewhere?"

"Very business-like, aren't you? Are you sure that you didn't take my kid?"

"We just want to talk," Isabel said, scaring the man before her. "We are giving you an interrogation. We just need to talk. How about behind closed doors at your office?"

"Fine."

* * *

"So, what's your story?" Booth asked, propping his feet onto his desk, the anthropologist behind him looking disbelieving.

"My husband and I were walking down a road when we saw a child getting pulled out of a van. We followed them into an old building, and we listened to them. They were planning on using a hot poker, and we decided to get as much information as we could before your son got seriously hurt. All that I noticed were cuts and bruises." Liz looked directly at Booth as she said this, but when he looked at her to continue, she added, "He fought back. All the way."

Booth nodded his head slowly, no doubt processing their story. "What did you find out?"

"They're serial killers, using your son to get to you. We rescued your son and kept him safe while waiting to find you," Liz answered properly.

"How did you find me?" he asked, looking at her as though he caught her.

"I, uh, walked into your dreams and asked you about it," Isabel replied, clearing her throat.

"That's not possible," Brennan cut in, staring down the woman.

"I thought that same thing when I first found out," Liz answered. "Someone who is scientifically intelligent would try to find a scientific explanation for everything, but I eventually found out that advanced human brains can cause things that can't be explained."

"Such as what?" Booth asked, obviously disbelieving.

"We can manipulate molecular structures," Isabel answered quickly.

Booth looked at them unknowingly. Brennan provided, "It means that they can change one object into another." He continued to look between the three women stupidly. Liz pushed herself forward in her chair to Booth's feet. She changed his striped socks into black socks and back again.

But Booth wasn't the only one surprised. "Liz, how have you done that?" Isabel asked.

"Max has been making me practice for the war," Liz answered softly.

"Is my tumor back?" Booth asked Brennan quietly. When she shook her head, he added loudly, "What war?"

Isabel took a deep breath and bit her lip. Liz looked at her twiddling thumbs, letting Isabel know she had to do it. "Thanks, Liz. We aren't from around here. Well, Liz is, but she's changed." She told the story up until Liz's and Max's wedding as far as she knew.

"That is one hell of a story," Booth said, looking to his partner.

"Tell me how you still have an office even though you are from Afghanistan," Liz demanded sternly.

"After that cock-and-bull story? No way," Booth said.

"I'm willing to do a polygraph test and have a human lie detector in the room if I have to tell this story again," Liz answered.

"Well, then, who is against you?" Brennan asked.

Liz and Isabel looked at each other and simultaneously took deep breaths. "Special Unit of the FBI," Isabel answered slowly.

"It doesn't exist," Booth said quickly. "Still doesn't check out."

"You can tell that to my brother, who served as a lab rat because he was blamed for a killing that happened fifty years ago by…our protector," Isabel answered, avoiding eye contact.

"You're lying," Booth said. "You didn't have eye contact."

"He killed the leaders of the Special Unit because they were after us. He did his job, even though that meant killing someone. We only kill people when they start to torture kids," Liz clarified, looking unblinkingly at Booth.

"So we don't have to take care of them ourselves?" Booth asked, taking his feet off the desk and looking at the two of them.

"Not exactly…" Liz answered.

"You wanted to keep the people on the streets that kidnapped my son? Make it more interesting? Or perhaps proving innocence by keeping them alive before telling us?"

"It just came out like that," Liz said, standing up and starting to yell. "I was too busy trying to protect our identity and free your son. My husband was the one who blasted the serial killers who escaped from jail. I have no idea what his intentions were. We escaped and we've been trying to locate you for five days. "

"Two days ago I contacted him about the kidnapping about his son. But we knew about it five days ago."

"Bones, why do you have to tell the perps about what you've done?" Booth asked, turning slightly to her while still keeping Liz and Isabel in view.

"Clearly, they aren't killers. Besides, your son said they did rescue him. Are you going to disregard what he says?" Brennan said, beginning to sidle over to the other side.

"So, what, you're on their side because she might be good at Biology?"

"No, their story has to check out about the Special Unit. I once knew about someone named Agent Daniel Pierce," both women twitched, "who disappeared after a while. I hardly ever saw him. I did once see him around the FBI building wearing a suit. He went to New Mexico and he never came back."

"So, there is a Special Unit?"

"There's only one way to find out. But it seems as though Daniel Pierce did something traumatic to both of them. What is it?"

Liz took a deep breath and began to tear. "He kidnapped my husband and put him into the White Room," she took another deep breath and a tear in her right eye fell onto her cheekbone. "There, he…tortured," Liz's voice cracked when she said the word, "my husband. We wanted to know about our world, but he tortured Max to get the information," Liz finished, wiping the tear from her trembling cheek.

"And Max is your husband?" Booth asked, seemingly uncaring.

"We have already said this. We should leave if you aren't going to believe us. We can just let those people get your son and you and kill both of you. The least that we could have done to help you would be to get the guys who did this to you, but apparently you don't want our help," Isabel retaliated, standing up and grabbing Liz to leave.

Booth watched them go, but Brennan soon began to follow them, forcing Booth to see if they would hurt her.

"Hey!" Brennan shouted down the hall, the two rapidly approaching the elevators. They stopped, and she jogged to reach them. "I'm trying to solve a related murder. If he won't help you, then that's his problem. But I think that you have a lot to help us with, and I think your story in there was true."

"You're the rational type. I wouldn't expect you to understand that so quickly," Liz answered. "But we'll help you to get them. With or without his help."

"I can say whether that will happen or not," Booth said, out of breath and catching up.

"You aren't on the case because you are too emotionally involved. Secondly, you are supposed to be in Afghanistan, but you are only back here because they thought that you might be able to help the case because people might be after you because you have been an FBI agent. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be here. Because they need an excellent Forensic Anthropologist; they asked me to solve the murder. That is why I am here. I can have some sort of a say in who I decide are consultants in this case. Thus, they will be helping us, and I hope that you can trust them. I do, so why don't you?"

"Well…"

"It was a rhetorical question, Table," Liz answered, containing her laugh.

"It's Booth."

"Whatever."

"Look, I have remains to see, so we're going to go. I'll keep you informed about the case, Booth," Brennan answered, slipping into the elevators with the women.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, you are a Forensic Anthropologist who helps the FBI solve murders?" Isabel asked, attempting to break the silence. Liz was in the back pondering something.

"Yeah. I worked with Agent Booth for a couple of years, solving crimes with burn victims and cold cases, or bodies with quickened decomposition," Brennan answered, driving a bit fast down the road. "What do you do?"

"According to Liz and Max, good deeds and avoiding the law. It's one of their terms," Isabel answered, laughing because Liz wouldn't know.

"So, Max and Liz somehow found a way to keep up the romance in their relationship even after they were married?" Brennan added, "Anthropologically speaking, marriages tend to leave out the romance because the two think that they have enough time to do everything they want to, and they don't get excited to see each other because they have to see each other."

"Brennan, she left her husband to go off the grid. We are criminals, remember?" Liz filled in, still looking out the droplet-covered window.

"What's gotten into her?" Brennan asked more quietly.

"Why don't you ask her?" Liz said, finally looking into the rearview to look at Brennan. "What about the fact that everyone thinks that I'm a bad person because no one understands us? Everytime that we save someone, we have to leave town in case they tell the police. So, we can't do what we are supposed to do in one city alone, especially if they bring attention to the FBI. We had to leave Roswell because we were going to get exterminated." She looked back out the window, breathing heavily and angrily.

"I'm going to try to help you with that. I can convince the FBI to clear you, but you have to help Booth."

Isabel looked at Liz with wonder, but Liz was still looking out the window. Isabel noticed as well as Brennan, and she looked forward again. "We can help you, but there are more of us."

"You mean, there are more than three of you?"

"There are six of us, but five of us have powers. Kyle finally got his in control, Iz," Liz said as though she was proud of her son.

"Who's Kyle?"

"He's a friend. Do you trust the Roswell police?" Liz asked.

"Sure," she answered, turning down an alleyway.

"Can I borrow your phone?" Liz asked. She took the offered phone and dialed the familiar number. "Hi, Mr. Valenti," Liz greeted on speakerphone.

She heard a door close and a squeak of a chair before he greeted back.

"You're on speaker phone, Jim," Isabel said. "We have a Forensic Anthropologist here with us. We're helping her solve a case."

"Who does she help?" Valenti asked, sounding increasingly worried.

"The FBI. We're working on convincing her partner. She believes us, even though she's a scientist." Isabel breathed deeply and waited for the end of the hesitation.

"FBI, Isabel? That's not good."

"We had to save the child, but he was the son of an FBI agent. They're after the agent, and we're trying to help him, but the agent doesn't believe us. The anthropologist does. Temperance Brennan."

"Hi," she greeted nonchalantly.

"Sorry, Doctor Temperance Brennan," Isabel corrected. "We're going to help them as much as we can, whether the agent does or not."

"And if he reports seeing you?"

"We're not going to go anywhere. We'll do anything to wrap up this case. They took a child, and that's inexcusable. We'll get them and then we'll leave.

"We also didn't want to leave any alien traces on the serial killers or the child, so we couldn't take them out."

"Serial killers? Liz, Isabel, why didn't you kill them when you had the chance?"

"I was with Max when I rescued the kid, and he was in charge of taking out the guys to get the kid. We have to move forward, no matter what the reason was for not killing the serial killers. We have to kill them without alien traces. Unfortunately, the person needing protection won't give it to us."

"If the anthropologist won't report you, then use her for protection. You don't mind, right?"

"I'll do anything to keep them safe," Brennan answered.

"Good. Just try to stay away from any FBI interactions. Whenever you have to, stay around Dr. Brennan. How's my son?"

"Kyle's getting ahold on his powers, but we're still watching him to make sure that he's okay. Don't worry; it takes a while for the powers to be completely controlled. We're all okay except for this."

"Isabel, Liz, why did you call me?"

"We wanted an adult figure to tell Dr. Brennan that we are safe."

"These children won't hurt anyone without unfailing cause. They want to kill the people who took the kid because they took a child. They would do the same for any child."

"I've already established that, Mr. Valenti?"

"Yeah. You two girls keep my son safe, and don't call without needing to again, okay?"

"Sure, sir," they both said and hung up the phone.

"Who is he?"

"He's Kyle's father. He used to be the sheriff, but he lost his job trying to protect us. He's now a deputy helping to get the feds away from us. The same ones that you work for."

"So, they're after you because of your killer-protector?"

"Humans are curious about aliens. They just tortured us to find out about us," Isabel answered matter-of-factly. "When we tried to protect ourselves from the FBI, we got on their Most Wanted list. We're in a sticky situation, and have been for the past eight years."

"So, not only do you risk your lives for humankind, but you also can't get any reimbursement for it?"

"Yeah," Isabel answered darkly. "We have to run away, but is the "Good Samaritan" thing really so important?"

"It's what Max wants to do, and I'm with him. You said you didn't want to leave him, so we have to do this. What is your problem with it?"

"She really does like to help people. She just likes to put you on edge as a test. She hasn't gotten a picture of you to walk through your dreams, so she doesn't know you and she's been having trouble trusting because she was the only female in the group for ten years. So she feels a little weird around new people. Sorry, Iz; she needs to know that we aren't dangerous."

Brennan pulled the car into a lot and got out.

"The Jeffersonian? You work here?" Liz asked, admiring the back of the building. "I hear that it has state-of-the-art labs for any type of science or history. I could have worked here, had I finished college," Liz explained disparagingly.

"I do all of my lab work here, but I do some of my case-solving at the FBI. Well, generally, Agent Booth does that, but I stand there trying to understand it in the other room. This is where I study the bones and try to find out about the person. I have someone who looks at sludge, slime, and insects to find out where a victim was killed. I have someone who can take the bones and make them into faces; she's an artist. And then, I have a pathologist boss who is good at her job. I try to have a grad student who helps me, but it doesn't always work out with them. Agent Booth helps us by accessing FBI files for us, and he also takes care of the psychological aspects of a case."

"You're clinical and he's psychological; you complete each other!" Liz exclaimed, walking into the building behind Isabel.

Brennan pretended she didn't hear it. "If you two decide to stay on longer than just this case, I'll get you some ID cards. If not, then you'll just disappear like you normally do. In the meantime, you have to follow me around and enter the lab with me." She approached the card swiper and turned around. "I'm sorry, but I'll only be able to allow the two of you in here. But, I will trust the other four with protecting Booth's life."

"So, what's the reason for why the other four can't be here?" Isabel asked, following Brennan up the stairs after she swiped her card.

"My boss will only see you two right now, at the beginning of the case. She might suspect someone who comes in the middle just randomly. It's just confusing, trust me," Brennan said awkwardly, but she smiled genuinely.

"So, where is your team?" Liz asked, looking at the deserted area.

"Of course," Brennan said, laughing a little. She dialed her phone and put it up to her ear. "Angela, where are you?...France?...Angela, I need your help. I'm back at the Jeffersonian to solve a murder involving the kidnapping of Parker Booth…Yes, you heard that right…Hodgins? Angela, could you just come back as soon as you can?...Seriously…Yes, he's back…Alright…Thank you so much. Yeah. Bye." She clicked her phone shut and looked at the women. "My artist friend and her husband are in Paris for a year. They're going to come back and help me. So, we have to find out everything we can about the remains before they come. After that, we can get a face to the person and found out what happened after that. We can start investigating."

"We need to get the FBI agent to pull files of serial killers that Agent Booth has put in jail. They would definitely be after him. The hard part is to catch the elusive killers. It'll probably be easy to find them. They said they escaped from jail and they're after Booth because he was the one who arrested them."

"Right. But we also need to see who killed this kid. They might not be connected."

"Dr. Brennan, it's nice to see you again," a voice said from behind her.

Brennan turned around and saw Dr. Saroyan behind her, smiling. "Cam, it's nice to see you, too."

"But why is it nice to see you after nine months anyway?"

"The FBI wanted me to examine the remains of a child. It could be linked to the kidnapping of Parker Booth. But when Booth and I got here, these two women had rescued him and kept him safe until Booth and I arrived."

"Actually, my husband and I rescued him and cared for him. Isabel helped us find the father. She's good with kids. I'm Liz."

"Dr. Brennan, why did you allow two women into the lab?"

"They are helping me to solve the case. Angela and Hodgins are coming back from Paris."

"That's where they've been! Thank you. If you find any flesh or organs on this body, give me a call. Otherwise, feel free to examine the body. Dr. Boyd, I would like you to assist Dr. Brennan," she ordered. "Brennan, you know the drill." She left on her stilettos and Brennan introduced the doctor and the women.

"Liz, what type of Biology were you going into?"

"I never picked one, but I can do almost any of them."

"Which one were you best at?"

"Human." Brennan sniggered before looking at the body. "Eight years old, male, died of literal heart burn."

"Poker?"

"Yeah, seems like it. I'd have to clean the bones to confirm." She looked to Dr. Boyd, who had to be told to do it. "So, can you look at blood samples and dictate…?"

"Where they're from, yes. But it's just bones. I can't say where the victim is from," Liz answered. "So, you're the best?"

"Yes."

"Honesty over modesty. I don't like it," Isabel answered, trying to engage in conversation.

"Isabel, be nice to her. Anyone in that room could have turned us in, and she didn't. We have to trust her," Liz advised quietly. "Brennan, what do you normally do now?"

"I generally go over to the FBI and start looking for suspects, but that's because we have an ID on the body and it's already clean. No offense, but you delayed me a bit this time, and Angela's not here.

"I suppose that we should go over there now and meet the FBI agent."

"We shouldn't go. We might be able to get away with Booth because he'll listen to you, but we won't be able to get away with a random agent, especially if they know about us. The next step is to convince Agent Booth so we can have him on the case here. We can't take no for an answer. If you trust him, I do, too. We need him on the case."

"And Parker? What do you plan to do with him?" Brennan asked, beginning to lead the women outside.

"With Booth's cooperation, we can put him under Max's care. Or Michael's and Kyle's."

"You mean, Idiot One and Idiot Two?" Isabel asked smugly.

"Okay, we have to bring in Max and convince Booth that he's safe. I mean, he has his own son!" Liz reasoned, ignoring Isabel's smugness.

"Where is the son?" Brennan asked, opening the door for them.

"He gave him up because he was human and he wanted to protect him from our involvement in government conspiracies. He didn't want to get a human involved in this. The only full human involved is the girlfriend of an alien and my best friend," Liz answered.

"Max, Michael, and I are royal hybrids. They took genetics of our former lives and humans here on Earth and combined them into one body. Max saved Liz, and she began to take on alien powers. Didn't we already go through this?"

"Just clarify for me again."

"Kyle was saved nearly a year after Liz was by Max. He has a special power of healing. Michael's is unknown, Tess's was mind-warping, and mine is dream-walking. Oh, Max can also conjure force-fields. Anyway, we don't know how it happened, but the two developed alien powers. Liz got a gift of premonition," Isabel got into the front seat of the car, "and she has been learning how to use communal powers, like blasting and changing molecular structures. Kyle is waiting for his specialty, but he can change the colors of shirts. He's still learning.

"Maria hasn't been saved by alien powers, so she won't get any. But she didn't want to leave Michael, so she's traveling with us," Isabel finished and sighed angrily.

"Right. How long have you been running from the FBI?"

"About ten years, but our protector helped by taking over Agent Pierce and kept the Unit away from us until he died. We've been threatened by both human and alien forces. But eight years ago, I saw a vision of us dying. We've been on the run ever since graduation," Liz explained.

"Are you hoping to get off the list by helping us?"

"If that happens, great. But if not, we are going to get away from D.C. forever. We can't risk running into you or Agent Booth again. Not to mention the fact that we won't trust you or your team again."

"You've been through this?"

"Never with the FBI, but with the police; NYPD and LAPD. We can't ever return to those places. We are on their watch lists, too. Is it necessary for you to hear this again?" Liz asked, looking at Brennan.

"No. I want you to know that I won't betray you, unless you give me unadulterated proof to do so. I don't think you will."


	5. Chapter 5

Liz could tell, from all the times she'd been with Maria and Michael, that Bones and Booth had feelings for each other. Of course, it wasn't her place to intervene. But when she thought of how much time it had taken Alex and Isabel to form a solid relationship, she couldn't stop herself from raising the subject when she was alone at the table with the anthropologist.

"So..." she began, not quite sure of what to say, "how long have you and Booth been partners?"

"A little more than five years. What about you and Max? You two appear to be very young to be living on your own, and in such a committed relationship."

Liz couldn't stop herself from smiling as she remembered just how young they had been when all of this began. "It was such a long time ago, when we were teenagers. But I love him, you know?"

Bones knew that there was something she was hiding, presumably, but she didn't want to try to figure out someone's brain; psychology. "Yes. You've been together with him for such a long time and with such a strong partnership that your feelings are not only of loyalty, but adoration," Brennan reasoned scientifically.

Feeling an affinity on that point, Liz nodded back. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Not just about me and Max, but you and your partner, too."

That seemed to catch the anthropologist off-guard. "Well, yes," she stammered, "but that's in a completely different context and relevance. You can't truly make such a comparison through total generalization. Booth and I are friends, professionally and personally. You and Max are involved intimately."

Recognizing that she'd hit a nerve, Liz continued. "You know, there's a difference between love and...and sex." She blushed at having stumbled over the word. No matter how intimate she and Max were, Liz was still very conservative about it.

Bones leaned back into her seat. "I am still not entirely sure about the reliability of love; it's not rational. It's a chemical reaction that causes delusions in the brain. Or you could call it sexual attraction."

"You're so literal," Liz answered almost immediately. She took a sip of her coffee and looked off into the distance. "But, I think that you have _delusions_ about Booth." She said "delusions" with an untrusting tone, as though she knew that Brennan was lying.

"Look, Booth and I work as we are. That's why I said 'no' to dating him," she answered sternly. But when a look of surprise crossed Liz's face, she had a look of horror.

"He offered to date you?" Liz asked, giggling slightly. Before Brennan could answer, she added, "Temperance, you will have a better partnership if you get together. I mean, it's just so much easier to be around the person. Before I dated Max, we were so awkward around each other. We stopped the…FBI from getting anymore information from us. But after that, we both took down the entire Special Unit."

"Which includes Daniel Pierce. Who killed him?"

"Michael, but it was an accident," Liz answered resolutely. "So, the point is that it'll make you even more in sync."

"But I don't think of him in that way!" she insisted, a lie in attempt to evade feeling something serious.

"Your pupils are dilated," she answered, tilting her head in its usual way when she's telling someone something uncomfortable.

Brennan stayed silent while she waited for Liz to berate her, but she didn't.

* * *

"Max, what exactly can you do?" Booth asked slowly.

"I can manipulate…"

"Multi-structures, yes, I know," Booth said, drinking a sip of coffee to have something to do.

"Molecular. It means that we can change simple molecular structures. Which means that we change the molecules in objects at will," Max corrected, looking directly at Booth while he ate a fry. "But we each have special powers. Well, Michael and Kyle don't know, but we don't know why. I can heal people, using the molecular thing, and I can create force fields that can withstand a few bullets. It also has a green hue, so we can mess with that a bit." Max was remembering when Michael and he interrogated the man from Roger's Army Base.

As Liz approached, Booth turned back to his food. "Can I talk to you?" Max looked at Booth before leaving with her. "I think we have more than just rescuing on our hands. I think that we should do something else good."

"Like putting the two of them together? I thought so, too," Max answered, looking at the two of them, trying to entertain themselves. "What would make it the right thing?"

"Not being together will complicate their relationship."

"They already work fine as it is. Besides, it's not really our business to do something like that. They'll blame us if it doesn't work and if it does, we'll become match-makers. We _don't_ want to end up like that."

"But we have to do something about it. Booth doesn't have a problem, but I think you need to convince Brennan that she's in love, if she is."

"She's completely in love. I mean, she's almost in more love than me!" Liz said quietly, giggling as she did so. "We better go before they think that we are doing something wrong! Just change the subject. I have an idea for Brennan." She kissed him and walked back over to Brennan.

"What did you guys talk about?" she asked before Liz sat down.

"We just talked about a little something," Liz said, trying to avoid lying. She finished her meal and instructed Brennan to follow after leaving enough money to pay for it.

* * *

"Maria, where are they?" Isabel inquired, pacing impatiently.

"No one has even told me the entire story," Maria whined edgily. "I'm sure they'll be home soon," she said, though unsure herself. "Kyle, do you have any ideas?"

"I've already tried annoying her to sit down."

"You changed the color of her shirt so often, and you had to touch the shirt to do that," Maria thought through out loud and slowly. "Yeah, that would get her even angrier."

"Look, I was trying to cheer her up. I'm sorry I failed."

"Go practice your sheet-changing."

"Did you guys not wash them?"

"No, I meant the color." She shook it off and went back to Isabel's issue. "Okay, Isabel, what is bothering you?"

"I mean, what if that FBI Booth person turns them in? We can't afford that. I can't live without my brother. I just…can't!" she vented quickly. She finally sat down after Maria didn't say anything, but she still breathed shallowly. "Thank God," she breathed when she heard the lock click. "Where have you been? I've been so worried about you. Max, don't ever do that to me again!"

"Isabel, we're all safe," Max assured her, pushing her further into the room with her hug."We have Booth here; we need to talk." He looked at her seriously as she took her time to answer.

"He doesn't trust us, Max. We need to get away from here before he turns us in," she advised.

"That 'he' can hear you," Booth responded, moving into the tiny apartment. "How long have you been living here?"

"A couple of weeks. We live on the edge of civilization. We barely get by with money. In fact, I have no idea why Liz gave you our names. We obviously can't trust you because you're FBI. You're our enemy," Isabel said, looking at him angrily.

"I want my son to be safe," he answered, affronted.

"Even if that means trusting your enemies. I've heard the phrase: 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Is that what you are trying to do?" Isabel prodded, now twisting again.

"Thanks, I just got her to calm down a little more," Maria snapped, moving to watch Kyle with boredom.

"Isabel, we have no choice but to ask his help. If he turns us in after that, it's his conscience. Please just trust him until then," Liz pleaded.

"He's going to turn us in. Max, why won't you listen to me?"

"I don't want you to trust me. I want you to help me. If my son is in danger, I will do anything to keep him safe."

"Then we'll come to an agreement. I'm only doing it that way," Isabel said, somehow towering over Booth. "In exchange for helping you and your son, you take my family off the list."

"I'm not even sure it exists," Booth answered.

"My brother has proof of getting tortured. The Special Unit exists. Do we have an agreement or not?"

"I'll do everything I can to get you off the list. But only if you save my son's life by catching the bastards who did it," he answered sternly. "I promise."

"Max."

Max leaned forward and took the hand of the Special Agent gently. He did it slowly and stopped when the Agent twitched away. He put a finger over the bottom of his wrist and implanted the picture they made in Florida, the one that was in River Dog's cave, and the one on the necklace. "I'll make it go away when you've held up your end of the bargain. Try to keep it hidden from the other Agents, though."

"Then why did you give it to me?"

"Because it's our best symbol that wouldn't offend the aliens above."

"There's more of you?"

"Yeah, but they're stuck on the planet," Max answered. "Just like us. So, we're safe."

* * *

"So here's what you're going to do," Liz began, staring at Brennan intently. She stifled her smile as she began to advise her.


	6. Chapter 6

"Liz, are you sure about this?" Brennan asked, hovering in a far corner. Booth was talking animatedly with Camille about the events. She prayed that he wasn't talking about those poor kids; they did deserve their freedom if their exploits were true.

"I'm completely positive," Liz answered confidently. "Just do exactly what I told you to do, and you'll be fine."

"Did Max tell him what I'm doing?" Bones asked, turning away from the man.

"No. Only the three of us know, and anyone else in my family who doesn't care."

"It's a planned surprise?"

"Just do it!" Liz answered, pushing her into the open area.

Brennan forgot to breathe on her way over to Booth. He saw her coming, and immediately dropped his mouth; it was now his turn to lose his breath. She pulled on his lapel so that their lips could meet. She was desperate for more, but she remembered that Liz said to break it off and walk away, so she did just that, leaving Booth and Camille to look at her in wonder.

After a few moments, Liz walked into the lab and right past the pair. Booth suddenly had a thought, and he followed her into Brennan's office.

"So, you two are in cohorts to get me to admit to Brennan that I love her?" Booth accused severely. "Because guess what? I don't need my heart broken again."

"I've been talking to Temperance; she's in love with you, too," Liz answered calmly.

"You, out!"

"I'm going to stay because I'm in this, too. It's both of us."

"Then let her talk for herself," he seethed, glaring at the innocent-looking Liz.

"Seeley, sit down," Brennan chipped in quietly. Booth was so affronted that he listened to her and sat down next to Liz. "The rational thing to do here is to affirm our issues and concerns in turns and in a calm voice."

"That's a bit of psychology, Bones," Booth snapped, avoiding her.

"Do you want to go first?"

"Bones, I just can't take you denying me time and time again. I mean, I'm fine being partners, but don't leave me alone and hurt again. If you want a relationship, just let me know, but don't expect me to just break it off and go back to being partners again."

"And the rebuke," Liz narrated in a voice that was barely a whisper.

"I just don't want to lose what we have. I guess that I have the same fear: losing mere contact after this is over. Though anthropologically speaking, partners don't want to see each other again after something ends."

"Me, I'm just trying to fit into a world that thinks I'm a freak, and when I try to make something bigger than it is, I end up taking the blame for it. But when I'm so sure of myself, the people involved always get angry at me for no reason, even though that I can see something happen before it does and try to stop it," Liz answered, raising her voice and starting to stand up.

"Why can't you just help the human race in another country? This one belongs to me and what I believe should happen to the humans."

"And because you're a superhuman, you can do that. Booth, why can't you just trust me? I saved your son from getting skewered by a hot poker! What is keeping you from trusting us? Is it because you are so in love with your partner that you don't trust her with anyone that you don't trust?"

"Yes," he answered, standing up. "I love my partner. I'm going to do anything to keep her alive, even putting myself in front of a bullet, which I have done before. Yes, you've saved my son, but you also kept him captive."

"We kept him safe. We even delivered him to you ourselves. We're helping you with the investigation."

"After you failed to kill them."

"Oh, yeah, that'd be perfect. Just tell an FBI Special Agent that we recaptured his son and killed his captors. Oh, by the way, we're also on the FBI's Most Wanted List, and at the top."

"I would have thanked you because you kept my son safe!"

"That's not how it went, so no one knows what you would have done!" Liz snapped, thinking rationally, a trait she was picking up again with Brennan around.

Brennan stood up rapidly. "Both of you stop it! Liz is right; it would not have looked good if they had killed Parker's kidnappers. We need their help to solve this case and to stop them from taking your son again." Brennan sat back down, breathing deeply.

There were many minutes of silence, where someone needed to begin again with a sentence or an action, but were all thinking about their next move.

Booth stirred the silence monster. "So, what do we do now, Bones? You've put your tongue down my throat, so what's your next move?"

Brennan looked to Liz for advice, who merely shrugged and relaxed in her chair. She hesitated for a moment, searching for a way to make it romantic without the cliché. "You pick me up for dinner at eight, and we go out periodically. We will be a couple and still work on cases together."

"What about our time apart?" Booth asked.

Liz suppressed a fake gag and listened intently to the pair. They really were interesting.

"We keep in contact through letters and then we meet a different way than planned at our coffee cart…"

"…by the reflecting pool," they finished together, laughing.

"I want to be there," Liz cut in, trying to break off their stares.

Booth began to stand up and walk around to kiss her. "We don't need it, though, considering we're not going to get away from each other this time."

"But we set it…" Brennan said, accepting the kiss immediately. Liz couldn't look away due to the intensity of interest. Brennan stood up, moving her hands all across his neck. Liz knew this from all of her times alone with Max. She watched because she wanted to see what it looked like to Isabel when she needed Max for something.

Somehow they managed to sashay into opposite positions, and Liz couldn't see any space between their bodies.

But it was nothing compared to look the look of the two people who had just entered the room: one looking pink from embarrassment, one laughing quietly at the scene before her.

* * *

"So, she's a person that you just picked up off the street?" Angela asked, well aware of the fact that she was right there.

"Angela, she's right there and she does have feelings," Brennan answered tersely. She felt like she had been in every awkward position possible since walking into her office after kissing Booth. She was now in between a proud, skeptical Angela and a shy Liz. She was trying to convince Angela that the woman was okay, and she was trying to make sure that Liz kept from crying.

"What? I come back from Paris and find out that you already replaced me?"

"I called you back to do a sketch for a set of bones. They are connected with the kidnapping of Booth's son."

"Your boyfriend or boytoy?"

"Angela!" Brennan exclaimed exasperatedly. "I didn't say anything when you decided to date Hodgins. Why are you like this?"

"Because I've been trying to get you to realize that you love Booth, and you never would. But when this girl comes along, you automatically go with whatever she says and you just go ahead and do whatever I want."

"Typically someone who is completely on the outside can see more clearly because they don't have any feelings on the matter of their own."

"So, you'll take the advice of a random person on the street, but not your own best friend?"

"Angela, she saved Booth's son. Liz and her family are helping us solve the murder and put this guy away for a long time." When Angela got up to leave, Brennan stopped her. "Angela, just because I'm trusting someone else while you are in France doesn't change the fact that you are my best friend."

"Yeah, but taking her advice behind my back…"

"Fine, what do you want me to do next? Do you not want me to go out with him tonight, deny me a right to be happy for the first time in a long time?"

"No."

"Then what's your problem, Angela?"

"It's just that I'm happy for you, and I'm just trying to adapt to it," she added sadly, leaving. But she remembered something and came back to say, "I'll get that face done for you."

"So that's your best friend?" Liz asked, turning back to Brennan.

"Yeah. She can be a bit eccentric, though."

"Best friends always are. Maria just blows things way out of proportion and she's always changing her mind."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one minute she's sleeping with Michael, the next she won't even talk to him. I mean, it's honestly so difficult to deal with her sometimes because you have to keep up with what's she doing at times."

"Angela's just so…"

"She brings you down to Earth. Maria was the one who wanted me to get away from Max because I was falling in love with him and I shouldn't have at that point."

"Dr. Brennan, I need you to look at this," a man with curly hair said upon opening the door loudly. "After you looked at the body, I began to take dirt samples and bug samples. He stopped at a work station and began to work the computer. "I found a cockroach head and evidence of scorpion venom in the bone."

"How does that happen?" Liz asked.

"If you use the same syringe they use to collect bone marrow, you can put almost any liquid in the bone," Brennan answer.

"I also found traces of gypsum."

"Which means?"

"They were buried at White Sands in New Mexico."

"We'd have to go through Roswell to get there. We can't exactly go there again," Liz responded. "Besides, I'm not leaving my family. It's all of us or none of us."

"Liz, we're going back to my office now," Brennan answered, leading the way. "Thanks, Hodgins." She led her into the office and began when the door was fully closed. "Liz, you need to go, but the FBI will get concerned about the four extra tickets it'll take to get all of you there. They'll wonder why we drove instead…"

"And they'll wonder why four went instead of two," Liz interrupted. "We can't go."

"But we need to you to. I want you to go to help me. I want Booth safe!" Brennan insisted.

"He has a gun. Temperance, we cannot go along without endangering ourselves. We're from Roswell, and we'll have to go through it to get to White Sands. If anyone from Roswell recognizes me and reports me to the wrong people, it's all over."

"What about that friend you have? Can't you call him and tell him that you're coming?"

Liz breathed deeply to think before picking up the phone and dialing. She set it to speakerphone and waited from him to answer. "Mr. Valenti, I need you to know something."

"Liz, if this is about your whereabouts, I don't want to know."

"Would you want to know if we were going to pass through Roswell again?"

"Liz, you shouldn't do that. You don't know what agents could be there."

"Oh. We'll be traveling with one," she answered slowly.

"If I have to stop you on the way, I will. This is too dangerous."

"We can protect ourselves. Do you want us to stop by and show you that we are safe right now? I'm sorry we won't be able to bring Kyle."

"It's not a good idea for you to bring him anyway. I might not be able to say goodbye again."

"We won't bring him. It'll probably be me and Isabel. Do you want us to stop by, ascertain that we are still okay?"

"Don't. I can't sneak you in, and Hansen will recognize you. It's best for you to simply go through Roswell without stopping."

"Okay." She hung up the phone abruptly. When Brennan gave her a weird look, Liz answered, "It's best for us all to have the least amount of time on the phone and if we get the business done and end it because of how hard it is to let go of something that's been a friend to you and protected you from the FBI."

"I suppose it is. So, are you and Isabel are going with us?"

"Yeah. Fly into Albuquerque, drive the three hours to Roswell."

"Actually, I think it would be best to mask just the two of you if we drive. Considering it's just the two of you."

"Yeah. I know. I'll have Max stay here with Parker and the other four to protect them."

"Quick mind-change!"

"We don't have a choice. Isabel, we're taking a trip!"

"Paris? Madrid? London?"

"White Sands, New Mexico."

"Seriously. We can't go anywhere near civilization?"

"I thought you loved Roswell!"

"I loved my home and my family and my friends. But they're all here now, and I just want to be with them. But I didn't miss the heat, and we're going even more south than we were."

"Yeah. I'm not too happy about it either."

"What's wrong?" Booth asked, sticking his head in.

"We're going to White Sands en route, Roswell, New Mexico."

Booth began to stare blankly before it slowly began to dawn on him. "You've got to be kidding."

"Yeah." Liz smiled weirdly before adding, "Isabel, why don't we go help Angela with the facial recognition?"

"What? Oh, sure." Isabel smiled stupidly before following her sister out.

"Still on for eight?"

"Nope. We have to pack for New Mexico. But when we get there, if we have time, we can have some fun time. I promise." She smiled, tapping the folders to straighten them and sitting them down on the table. She left curtly with a huge grin on her face.


	7. Chapter 7

"So, my son is safe with aliens?" Booth asked, turning onto the highway.

"Are we going to have this conversation all the way to White Sands? Because I will jump out of a moving car if you do," Isabel snapped.

"Am I going to have to listen to you whining the entire way there?"

"Only if you stay away from the fact that your son is safe with us."

"Brennan," she answered her phone, barely hearing it above the fray. "Why didn't you tell me this before?...Alright…Yeah…Thanks, Angela." She snapped her phone shut and sighed deeply. "Angela found the child. He's nine-years-old, and his father works for the CIA, name: Samuel Loren."

"No idea who he is," he answered, feeling concerned by then.

"Booth, we're going to find them. I'm sure Max and Liz can say who they are when we find them. But for right now, we need to see who did this to the kid. We'll figure out where they are before they kill you and your son," Brennan said soothingly.

"They're almost worse than Michael and Maria," Isabel whined to Liz.

"Isabel, stop asking for attention," Liz replied, annoyed. When Isabel tried to retaliate, Liz talked over her. "I know that's who you are, but we need to trust them right now. They are a lot easier to comply with than Maria. At least one of them isn't irrational."

"You're essentially the Queen, so do I have to go with everything you say?"

"I'm not the Queen, and Max isn't the King. I don't think you're likely to betray us anytime soon. You're not Vilandra," Liz answered. "Just trust them because we don't have any other choice if we want to keep that kid safe."

"His name is Parker," Booth answered testily.

"I know!" Liz answered, equally angry. "Sorry."

It was quiet as they rolled along the road, but it was awkward. Liz and Isabel were feeling weird because they had a sister fight and neither one of them wanted to admit to each other that they were wrong. Booth and Brennan were feeling awkward because they were invading on another family setting, and an alien one at that. They didn't want to help either one of them for fear of repercussions of any kind.

Finally, Liz broke the silence by asking, "So, what are we going to do when we get there?"

"Check in with the Alamogordo Police?"

"Try with the Roswell Sherriff Department. It's the biggest police department that part of the state. But we can't go in with you; we're wanted there, and everyone in that town knows who we are. I should've told Valenti that we were going to have to go there," Liz advised.

"But there is a police department there?" Booth asked, looking for her in the mirror.

"Yes."

"Then we are going to the Chief of Police in Alamogordo," Booth confirmed. "That's where we'll go first, see the rangers and, if they know anything, take a look at the site where the body was buried."

"Right. I'll also look for bone fragments in the area."

"That won't be as easy. The light reflects off the gypsum in the area, making it all white. If the body decomposed in the area, any traces will be very hard to find," Liz added. She paused to see if Isabel would snap at anyone, but when she didn't, Liz continued. "We'll do this early in the morning. That way we don't get the midday glare of the gypsum and we don't have to deal with wild animals of any sort at night."

"Is it really hot during the summer?" Booth asked.

"Yeah. It can get above 110 degrees during the summer."

"Depending on how deeply buried he was, he could have either been boiled or chilled. I didn't see evidence either way of getting boiled chilled on the bones. He was probably placed there but moved before the skin was disintegrated."

"Oh, that's great! So, we're just looking for something that could tell us more about him?"

"Or other remains or bodies, yes. We need to look at the entire park."

"Do you know how big that is?" Liz asked testily. "Honestly, we'll be there a month if you dig down twelve feet. Not to mention the fact that it's a national park!"

"Another reason why it belongs to the FBI," Liz added. "Shouldn't you be able to pull some FBI tricks to get us to look at the place?"

"If it's a National Park; they won't be really happy if we trash the place. We can't just go walking around a national park looking for evidence."

"Unless it's a crime scene."

"Roswell news will be all over that," Isabel said, finally warming after some down time. "We can't risk being seen there. If anyone in Roswell knows about us and sees us on television, we'll be doomed."

"Look, it's just the two of you, and I'll get you out of it by naming you consultants for the case. You better be ready for a bloodbath, but it's my ass on the line if I pull all of these strings for you. They might not take any of it. We just have to be very convincing without sharing your secret," Booth explained.

"And we thank you for it. We'll just lie low and try to hide ourselves. Isabel, fancy a hamburger in Roswell?"

"We can't go there!"

"But they can. They can purchase some masks, we can change our faces, and we have our disguises outside of the hotel. By the way, we are going to stay in a decent hotel, and we'll all stay together. We'll need two connected rooms," Liz answered, anxiously jumping around in her seat.

"Slow down. Where are we going?" Booth asked.

"We are going to the Crashdown Café. It's in Roswell."

"We're not even close," Brennan responded.

"Yeah, but we'll need you to go there. Get some lunch, some pie for me, fries for Iz, and two masks. But don't mention anything about me and Isabel being back in town. I don't know how well he'll keep the secret then if there's a sighting. But we'll need those masks, and it'll keep my family going. I need you to do this," Liz pleaded suddenly.

"Fine, we'll do it."

* * *

"I'll have an Alien Blast."

"And I'll have the same thing," Brennan ordered with a smile on her face. She could tell immediately that it was Liz's father by his bone structure and stature. "This is the place. That was her father."

"Right. What kind of pie should we get for Liz and Isabel?"

"Don't say their names aloud," Brennan hissed. "They don't need any more attention than they already have with us." She readjusted herself so they could have a normal conversation. "Booth, what exactly do you want from us?"

"I don't get what you mean."

"Why me? I annoy you. I generally know more from a set of bones than a living, breathing human. I know more about the human anatomy than the mind. I have been denying you for ages, and I keep destroying your ego with my books. What's so great about me?"

"All but the last of those. I can probably help you with improving my character." Brennan reminded herself of the book that she deleted after reading it to Booth. She remembered how much of Booth she actually put in there. She created the character based off of real life, and she wondered what it would really be like to be married to Booth. Was it idealization, or really him?

"I bet you can't," she answered with a laugh. "I need good, strong characters, and you, well...let's leave it there."

"Thanks, Bones. Oh, feel free to take notes tonight."

"I have all I need. I'm just going to worry about the killer. I think that he's going through a dry spell."

"I'm about to eat lunch; I don't really want to go through this. We'll save that for tonight."

"Right. That was fast," she remarked as the food was served to them.

* * *

"Liz, isn't that Maria's mother?" Isabel asked, pointing out the front window.

"Yeah, that would be her," she answered, studying the familiar woman. "She's headed right toward us. What do we do?"

"Wait to see what she's going to do. If she read the diary, she might get suspicious if she's smart enough to recognize an FBI vehicle."

"I don't know. We can't call Valenti every time we need help. We're on our own. We can't be seen. And we're right around the Crashdown. We shouldn't really get out of the car."

"We don't have keys, either."

"We don't need keys, Isabel. But it'll raise suspicion on everyone's part if we start the car. We have to leave it, or they'll think we did something wrong," Liz said, whispering to evade being overheard. "Pretend like there's something on the seat. She might not recognize you." They both did just that, and Isabel began to form something out of the seat. "If she recognizes me, it's all over. She'll bring attention to me." When she thought she had passed by, she looked out the back window to find her reporting the car; she had seen the government car. Liz laughed a bit when Mrs. DeLuca began to yell into the phone.

"What now?"

"Answer the phone?"

"I can't retrace a phone call that has already been made, it would be even more suspicious."

"What do you think she's reporting?" She went silent to hear what the woman was saying. She heard the words 'Maria,' 'criminal,' 'wrongfully so,' 'FBI,' and definitely "repayment for the wrongful criminalization of my daughter and her freedom from the FBI's investigation."

"I'd say she thinks that the FBI is still after her. We made a mistake; Booth will get hurt if my parents or Maria's mother find out that he's an agent. We're the only ones that can stop it."

"We can't go in there. Even if they know, they'll tell if they do what they did to Max."

"They aren't your parents, why would you care? I'm going in. Are you coming?"

Isabel sighed. "Yeah. But I'm going to blast Mrs. DeLuca when we get out."

"Fine."

Isabel did so and they went to the front. Before they entered, Liz and Isabel hovered for a moment before walking boldly into the café. They managed to get over to the table and sit down without a fuss.

"Didn't Booth tell you to stay in the car?" Brennan asked, standing up.

"They're asking our parents about us, the FBI. They might go to torture. You're not safe here. I know that they will only hurt you because you're FBI unless we tell them that you are safe because we're protecting you. We can trust my parents, I think," Liz whispered.

"Lizzie," her father said slowly from a few booths down. "Lizzie!"

"And here we go."

"Dad, I can't stay long. I need you to wave the fees for their meal, and I need some masks. Oh, and some pie. Fries, Iz?"

"Sure."

"Five minutes," Liz noted to her father.

"Can't I have any…"

"No. We don't have a lot of time. Oh, do also mind if we take some Tabasco sauce?" Liz interrupted.

"You know where everything is. Booth, Brennan, everything's in the back. Dad, get that pie and fries and put their food and drinks on the house. We'll take what we need from the back. I'm really sorry I'm doing this to you."

"Don't worry about it." He just stood there, but when Liz urged him he got right back into it.

"I can't find anything here," Brennan insisted.

"Okay. I'll do it." Liz found the needed items in an instant and Isabel grabbed several bottles of Tabasco sauce and waited for Liz's father to get the fries. She went into the kitchen and hid from the front of the restaurant. "Dad, you can't tell anyone you were here. I know the FBI is investigating you. Don't tell them. I won't tell you where we're going for your safety. You can't tell Maria's mother we were here. Or Mom. It'll hurt them if you do. You never saw us."

"They have your mother."

"Where is she?" she asked.

"They rebuilt Roger's Air Base. I think they're there."

"Okay. I'm with an agent. He's safe. We'll try to get her out if we have time. We have to go." She realized she had been handed a lot of fries and an entire pie and four utensils; he was definitely concerned. "I love you."

She ran to put the rest of the items in the bag, save for the pie, and ran out with the other three. They got into the car quickly and began to leave from their alley. "We saw Maria's mother, but she began to report us. We picked up from her that our parents are getting investigated by the FBI Special Unit. Apparently they're back to together, or so we think. My father would go far to protect his little girl from anything. If he found out that you were FBI before I told him so, he might hurt you, which will go against my promise. I told him because he'll trust my every word these days."

"And Maria's mother?"

"She'll do the same for her daughter. If she saw me, she would break in a torture session. I'm sure she could withstand a lot, but if they do what they did to Max…" Liz broke off, but she repaired herself and began to hand out items. "Do you guys need anything?"

"Fortunately, we got to eat most of them. Alien Blasts?"

"It's the most famous place to go in Roswell. Of course it's alien themed."

"Really dignified," Isabel sniggered, accepting some fries.

"Liz, thanks for getting us out of there without spending any money."

"Don't always count on it. That's really the only place where I can pull strings. Well, Maria's mom's shop, but we can't go there. We need to get to Alamogordo now."

"Liz, what was your dad concerned about back there?" Isabel asked, looking to her sister worriedly.

"They rebuilt Roger's and the Special Unit. They're using it as a base of operations."

"Good thing we know where to stay away from," Booth said, denying fries.

"They have my mother there."

"Liz, we aren't here for a rescue operation. We can't just walk into Roger's and expect to get do a rescue operation. Especially since it was formed to _exterminate_ us."

"I would do it for Diane Evans, no questions asked," Liz retorted.

Conceding to her sister-in-law's compassion, Isabel said, "We'll need a plan."

"While they are working on the case, we can plan a way to get it back. We'll rescue anyone who is there."

"And do what? Have them join us? They're going to be tortured if we rescue them and they get recovered."

"Isabel, we can slowly take out the Special Unit. From the inside."

"They'll think that it's really weird if we stay longer. We can't just use pure leverage to get in there."

"If you take one of these napkins, we can transform this into an ID card. We also have the masks. We can create our own identities and gain access to it. We've done it before," Liz explained quickly. "You in?"

"If you're supposed to protect me, you can't do that while committing espionage and possibly murder of federal agents," Booth insisted.

"So, we're not supposed to kill the people that made us become invisible?" Isabel asked, biting on a fry haughtily. "Not to mention the fact that they are hurting our parents. We might get black-listed for it in your book, but what would you do if someone made you a criminal because you're a little different, but a good person?"

"Don't do it. It'll just make you even worse on the list, especially mine. If you have to protect me, then you have to stay with me," Booth said with finality.

"Fine," both replied, exchanging discreet looks.


	8. Chapter 8

"Did you take any notes?" Booth asked, rubbing her spine with three fingers.

"Yes."

"What'd you come up with?"

"I can understand why so many women have slept with you," she answered.

"And why is that?"

"Because what you lack in subtlety, you make up for in the bedroom."

"Is that another way of saying that you had a good time last night?"

She smiled, so he continued. "Would you do it again?"

"Definitely not."

"Why not?"

"Because it'll create an unprofessional atmosphere," she answered, donning her reasoning face.

"But being together will create an unprofessional atmosphere."

"And we've already committed to that, so I guess that we've thrown that out the window. It won't matter if we sleep together twenty times or once; we'll still have all of that tension and we'll know that we would always be tempted to do it again."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"We are going to keep sleeping together. It's a real relationship, and all of mine have involved sex." She paused and realized that his hand had frozen on her back. "Still makes you uncomfortable?" He stuttered for words, and she kissed him. "But the actual act of doing it is okay, right?"

"Do you want to take notes on that one if we do it again?"

"Yeah. But I don't think we have time right now." But when she waited a few moments for the phone to ring and it didn't, she turned back to him and said, "Breakfast."

"We can't do room service, though."

"And I'm the one who can pay the extra money for the room service," she answered. She reached across him for the phone. She dialed for the front desk and asked for double toast, eggs, and juice, gave the room number, and turned back to her partner. "It's too late to not do it. But the problem is that one of us is going to have to get up, and neither one of us is going to want to do that. But, I'll be the rational one and get it because it should end at some point."

"What should?"

"The banter."

"Right."

* * *

"Liz, we should go get breakfast now. We can't wait around for those two."

"Did you know that they were…?"

"Please. I couldn't sleep over their noise. Are you ready to go?"

"Yep. I didn't get to sleep until they did. Did you?"

"Nope. I'm glad that I'm on the other side of Michael and Maria's room. I don't hear them."

"Yes, you are a lucky one," Liz answered, pulling the door closed behind her.

"Sorry. Forgot."

"It's alright. Max and I do get some time to talk then because we can't sleep. And it's only when they have something really good to share."

"And you do you and Max ever…?"

"Rarely. We don't really want to have another person among us. Remember, Max is the king who makes all the decisions."

"So you're finally realizing he has flaws?"

"Sometimes he can be a little overprotective. Sometimes, I'll ask him not to do something and he will do it when I'm not there. Like, I'll ask him not to eat a cookie, and he will. He did sleep with the enemy and procreate with her." She held the elevator doors for Isabel before following suit. "He doesn't always get the door or my chair. Often, he'll completely ignore me to help another woman. He has tried to leave the planet without me several times. Honestly, sometimes the only reason why I stay with him is because I know that he'll keep his promises, and he made a promise to love me forever, which he has stuck to.

"All in all, Isabel, he's flawed, but I still love him a lot." The elevator dinged, and she got out. Isabel laughed a little as she walked out behind her. They moved to evade the kitchen door, but they heard, "…goes to room 323," before dodging the room service person and looking at each other. They went back into the lobby for the express breakfast and began to eat.

"So, how do you want to torture them next?" Isabel asked, stuffing some bagel into her mouth.

"How about insisting about the details of last night?"

"Embarrassing yet entertaining for the ride there; I like it! But we have to carefully get them into the conversation."

"I think we can do that." Liz looked off into the distance because she didn't want to face the prospect of lack of conversation.

"How did you do it? Put the two of them together."

"I wasn't sure about taking a chance with Max, but I decided that I couldn't stand to be away from him."

"And you don't suppose I don't know?"

"Well, we're both rational thinkers, so I used that fact to say that I was happy in a serious relationship."

"You mean, the very same Max who broke your heart and slept with the enemy?"

"We've already admitted that he has flaws."

"Oh, so marriage has been good to you?"

Liz laughed and finished her breakfast. She went to get some coffee while waiting for Isabel to finish. But when she hadn't finished by the time she was back, she got another cup for Isabel, who had finished, and they went back up to their room. "So, what do we do now? I mean, we have to wait for the two of them to finish, and we don't know how long that'll take."

Isabel hardly thought before picking up the phone and finding out how to dial the room. When she did, she gave herself a Welsh accent by moving her hand over her throat. She waited a while for an answer, rolling her eyes for Liz's entertainment. "Wotcher, I'm from the Alamogordo Police. You've missed your appointment."

"A Welsh policewoman in the States?" Booth asked, laughing at something in the room, and Isabel could figure it out.

"I can stand the heat; something that helps in this part of the country. Anyway, we'd be very honored if you'd come in soon."

"Right. We'll do that," he answered, and he immediately hung up the phone.

"I think it worked," Isabel confirmed, sipping her coffee.

"Before they come, it's probably a good idea to change your voice," Liz advised, putting a way a few things to allow maid service to come.

"Right." She moved her hand over her throat and was clear of the accent.

"Why are we having fun playing pranks on them?" Liz asked, finished straightening her things.

"Because we hardly get human interaction, so we are using this new-found ability to have some fun that we never get."

"Yeah," Liz answered.

* * *

"Do we have to get out of here?" Booth asked, trying to hold her back from getting up.

"We are here for a job. Let's get it done and then I'll take you some place."

"Isn't that my job?"

"No; you are an FBI agent. You are supposed to investigate cases that are murderous spread across states or federal crimes."

"And what about the male part of me?"

"You already protect me."

"So then I'm not allowed to dote on you?"

"I really don't need anything."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Keep protecting me, but mostly just love me."

"I could hardly consider you a romantic. Didn't you want to stop the banter?"

"Fine." She stood up and put on a robe at the knocking of the door. She received the food from the smile-containing waiter, feeling her face turning to hot rubies. She took the tray and indicated he could take the cart, which he did with an odd face. She walked back to the bed and placed the tray on Booth's lap before going around to sit down next to him. Just as she put the sheets over her, she decided to take off her robe, so she stood up and took it, letting it fall to the floor before getting back in and eating her food.

"That didn't imply no talking, did it?"

"What do you want to talk about?" She looked at him, looking at his food on the tray, and buttered her toast. He stayed silent in thought. "See, Booth, I think the only way that we can talk is if we are arguing with each other over something or are teaming up to make fun of Sweets. So, we can't really converse about certain things without making fun of the other person."

"So, you want to stop the banter, but you've accepted that's only the way to talk about something other than work?"

"Yes," she answered, finally taking a bite of her toast. "Well, when we are in a stressful situation, we often confide in each other in a serious manner."

"So, if we can't talk to each other seriously without a bad situation or in an argumentative manner, which you don't want, we either have to teach each other how to have a normal conversation in a normal situation without the jokes."

"Unless that is the sole reason of why we converse in a normal manner."

"But the thing is that we can never have a normal conversation or even a normal date because you speak as though you're from a different planet, and you hardly watch any of the classic movies that I watch. So, we can't have a normal relationship that way."

"Most relationships have certain idiosyncrasies about them that contradict the term 'normal relationship.' And why are you trying to imply that I am the one that is quirky in this relationship?"

"That's because I don't spend my vacations in Guatemala studying bones instead of on a beach admiring the lifeguard men."

"You mean women." When he gave her an odd look, she added, "You're a male, and you've shown in more ways than one that you prefer women. So, if you went to the beach to look at lifeguards, it would be women. Though, generally, the female mate would object to the intention."

"But you would understand that it was normal to feel that way, even though you had dedicated yourself to another person."

"We're talking about you. And I would feel jealous if you started looking at other women, considering our history."

"Which means what?"

"It means that because we put off being together so long that it created sort of a rift between us. That now we are sexually involved, it has caused us to want to protect our relationship. We won't want the other to feel jealous because it will destroy the relationship, and we don't want to be separated at all."

"Right," Booth said through his last bite of eggs. "Can you take the tray from me so that I can get dressed?"

She angrily took the tray from him and began to eat the rest of her breakfast, looking off in the other direction in thought. When she finished, she set the tray down and began to get dressed. But by the time she was done, he was still having trouble with his tie, so she went up to him and began to help him with it. She didn't notice he was looking at her until she looked up at him. "What?"

"It's still so surreal to me." She smiled in wonder before she hung onto his tie for a moment. "What are you doing?" She snapped out of it with a sharp intake of breath before grabbing her things and leaving.

"Isabel, why did you have to make so much noise last night?" Liz asked when they were on the highway.

"I was sleeping. I thought that it was you making a lot of noise last night. But I figured you couldn't because you didn't have your phone on last night."

"I told you that we only do it on special occasions. Even less often than our birthdays," Liz retaliated, acting perfectly. "It must have been the neighbors." Liz looked out the front window to guide them if necessary on their way to the station, giving her a nice view of the two red faces in the front. She put her hand on the seat and made it glow red, subsequently hearing Isabel's quiet snort.

"Liz, I know how to get to the station," Booth said, annoyed.

"Just checking. So, do you two normally share a room when you're on travel?" She settled back into her seat.

"We never even share a hotel. He doesn't want to go over his per diem," Brennan answered, and Liz could detect the playful tone of someone who was making fun of their significant other.

"Right. As I recall, you had a room with one bed in it, right?" Isabel prodded, both of the girls trying to manipulate them into saying.

"We slept together," Brennan answered. "I don't really understand manipulation to get people to say something. They can just ask for it. I don't understand why they would lie back, either," Brennan reasoned, literally scratching her head.

Liz decided to change her tactic. "Your reasoning. I mean, I can't understand why people would do something that they shouldn't do."

"Like you getting together with Max?" Isabel offered.

"That was a good thing because I would never have saved your butts so many times," Liz bit back. "You see, it was Max's love for me is why he saved me and the reason why I was able to protect you from the duplicates and the FBI. Or would you rather be dead on Antar with Tess getting tortured because she produced a human child."

"That's great. Just the time to tell us that there are more of them."

"Were you not listening in your office? Because Liz and I both explained the seriousness of the situation. They are more alien than human, so they are far more likely to do something to humans, especially when provoked."

"How so?"

"Rath, Michael's twin, killed Zan, Max's twin, so that he could be king. But he needed us to find the Granolith because it was in our possession. And then he would have gone back home."

"We should have done it; he would have been killed in our place, and Kivar wouldn't have tried to ruin your honeymoon."

"Yeah, but Lonnie would have been seduced. I was the only one who could have defeated him, and that was because I was in love with Jesse."

"What about if it had been Alex?"

"Liz!" Isabel screeched, suddenly crying.

"He was my best friend. I took me five years to even be able to say his name. Why aren't you over him by now? Besides, you had only been dating for a couple of days."

"But I still loved him."

"I thought Jesse was your soul-mate. Which is it?"

"Does it matter? One's in Boston and one's dead. I can't see either one of them again. God, Liz, do you even feel anything?"

"The one that was dead was my best friend. All I have left is Maria to keep me grounded from this whole alien thing."

"You had your choice to get out of it!"

"Really? When I was crackling green?"

"We're here!" Booth yelled, looking back at both girls. "Isabel, you get on your mask and come in with me. I am not leaving the two of you in here together. Brennan, let's go." He got out swearing before having to pull a fuming Isabel out of the car and making her put on the mask. He led her in, nearly pushing her the entire way.


	9. Chapter 9

The office was small and was full of file cabinets that were overflowing so that other folders and papers were strewn on the desks and on boxes, equally filed with paperwork. It was wonder how they could have gotten anything done without spending the majority of their time scouring for their papers and files. Even their computers were old.

"I'm Special Agent Seeley Booth. I got a call this morning from a Welshwoman insisting we come in immediately," Booth said, all in one big breath.

"We are all Americans here," the secretary answered disgustingly.

Booth narrowed his eyes in thought before looking to Isabel, remembering the voice sounding a little like hers. "Right, well, we're here now, so we'd like to know everything about the murder here."

"There hasn't been a murder here lately. Are you, by any chance, here from the FBI to look into the dunes?" she asked, looking at a calendar to investigate.

"Yeah. I'm the FBI agent, this is the Forensic Anthropologist, Doctor Temperance Brennan, and this is our consultant from Roswell. She's sort of familiar with the entire area."

"Roswell Sherriff has no jurisdiction here," she answered quickly. "And I'll need her name."

"Yolanda Ramirez," Isabel answered, adopting a long-forgotten name.

"Right, well, the Chief isn't here yet, so you'll just have to wait here," she answered, all sly smiles.

"Who's the lucky man?" Isabel asked, attempting pleasantness.

"No one of your concern," the receptionist answered sweetly.

"Well, we have nothing but time, so, you either tell the Chief that we are here, or we can chat you up about things that you don't want to talk about. Your choice."

"How did you know that he was here?"

"None of your concern," Isabel reciprocated cattily. "Are you going to tell him that we are here?"

She slowly picked up the phone and told the Chief that his guests were here. She nodded curtly to the three and let them. Booth offered the two seats across from the meager desk to the women and huddled in a corner.

"So, you are Temperance Brennan. Enchanted to meet you," he began, admiring her in a way that made Booth shift. "And this lovely woman next to you?"

"Yolanda Ramirez," Isabel answered, smiling coyly. "But I'm married," she swiped the look off of her face as she showed her ringed left hand.

Booth pushed himself off the wall when he looked at it, but put his shoulder back into it when she put it back into a clasp.

"I'm a Roswell consultant. My family used to come here a lot, so I know the area well," she explained simply. "Brennan is from the Jeffersonian."

"I know." He hadn't taken his eyes off of her.

"Who's not a fan of you?" Booth whispered, and only Isabel heard.

"Her team found some traces of sellenite gypsum in a set of bones. This was the first place we thought of. We'll need to study the area to see if there are any clues to lead us to the killer.

"The bad thing is that he is still out there and going after people who helped put him in jail. Which includes Agent Booth and our beloved Doctor Brennan." Isabel was stately in her sentence but knew Booth would be angry at her wording.

"But the problem is that it is a national monument. There is no way I can let you roam freely about the area. Not to mention the fact that there is going to be a missile test today."

"They only last one to two hours. Is there any way to see what's under there without disrupting the park?" Her question was directed at everyone.

"The sand's too instable; we'd be clutching at straws."

"We can study it from the surface. If we find anything on the surface that could be linked to something below, I'm sure Booth could do something to allow us to dig that sole area. I mean, if it's in the Heart of the Sands, most people won't mind if we take down a single dune, and it might not even be that if it's at the base of one. Would that work?" Brennan rationalized.

"You can't disrupt the dunes. The most that you could do is get a warrant to run around on the surface. But that could take weeks."

"Then weeks it'll take," Isabel said, standing up. "We'll see you soon." She left boldly, and neither of the other two dared to oppose her.

* * *

"So we need a warrant to only look at the surface?" Liz asked to confirm.

"If we find something on the surface we can probably get a warrant to look underneath," Brennan answered exasperatedly. "We can't look for any disturbances; the wind would have swept away any evidence of it. We just have to look for any evidence, and even then the wind would have picked it up and carried it away. Without a genius, it would take a while to figure how long it would have taken to get there."

"Where's Zach when you need him?" Booth sighed, admiring the steering wheel.

"In an asylum," Brennan answered with no emotion.

Isabel rolled her eyes tiredly before looking to Liz to help after a moment of pension.

"We have to look for it. We probably won't find anything in under the dunes, so we look for the evidence, and take it with us. You can do that, right?" Liz asked, tapping an absentminded Booth on the shoulder.

"Get clearance to take anything off a national monument? It'll be difficult. Anything you find has to be really convincing."

"What about getting that warrant to go anywhere on the monument?" Isabel inquired, playing with a fraying string.

"We have enough evidence to at least investigate on the surface. We just need to call DC and ask them for it. That's the hard part," Booth looked at Brennan wonderingly. "But we have to do it."

"Not unless we can get ahold of those files."

"But you didn't see their faces. How could you know what they look like?" Brennan spoke this time, turning forward, leaving her arm on the console.

Booth reached out and grasped her hand. Isabel didn't notice; she was staring out her window in partial thought. Liz noticed it and remembered Max's and her criminal days in Utah when nothing mattered but using their love to find his son. She thought she felt a tear slip past her lid, but it was dry when she tested it.

"We're going to get that warrant and search that place," Liz affirmed to the other three. "We have to solve this; no matter what's in it for me or Isabel."

"Speak for yourself," Isabel snapped, but when she looked at Liz, she remembered why she loved her sister.

* * *

Isabel was tired and extremely hot. She was not enjoying the heat that she had thought she had missed. Seeking shade under a cottonwood, she then picked up sand to have something to do. When she picked it up, she had some flashes of a small child scampering through the area and being told not to by a familiar figure. Isabel had been screaming during the revelation, and Liz was right in front of her, holding her face by her cheeks when she came out of it. When that didn't calm Isabel down, she hugged her and stroked her back. Brennan and Booth ran over to see what they could do, but Liz was already starting to calm Isabel down.

"What did you see?" Liz asked, pulling out of an embrace.

"Alex was here. He's the only one who has been in this spot," she mumbled.

"What can we get from that?" Booth asked, exasperated.

"Nothing. Just leave to me." She turned back to Isabel. "Did you see anything important? Anything at all?" Isabel shook her head slowly. "Do you want to follow it, see if it led to anything?"

"We don't have the time to look after some alien things," insisted Booth, beginning to look about for his next direction. "All of us have to go together, and I won't go."

"Isabel, do you want to go see what we can find?" Liz asked again sharply.

She nodded her head slowly. By this time she had recovered and attempted standing up. "That way." She pointed in a southward direction and slowly began to amble in that direction.

"We aren't going," Booth said with false finality.

"Booth, it might lead to something. If we don't find this out, we might not solve the case or we might find out more about ourselves. We have to go," Liz answered, catching Isabel as she nearly fell.

Brennan slipped her hand into the crook of Booth's arm and nudged him gently. When he didn't respond at all, she mumbled to him, "I don't want to go either, but if they have something, we better go along. They won't stop; I know that much."

Booth sighed, and, in response, lifted his arm to accept hers and moved on. He ignored her thanks and followed the other two.

* * *

"You have reached Special Agent Seeley Booth. I'm unable to come to the phone right now, so leave a message after the tone, and I'll get back to you."

Max writhed in pain. "I need Liz," he screamed again. "It's Max, her husband, and I need her to come soon." He was trying to stop himself from screaming to alleviate the worry. "Please, call me as soon as you can." He froze in pain before falling into another fitful sleep, the other three standing over him worriedly, another's son gripping his hand.


	10. Chapter 10

Isabel walked, using the long flashes to guide her into what looked like the middle of nowhere. When they had crossed over a dune, Isabel pointed in front of her, and Liz followed the point. She gasped, and Isabel followed suit when she saw what was in front of her.

"It's too far from the Ranch. Even though the ecosystem here will support it, I don't see how it could have gotten here," Liz breathed, barely.

"Are there any rivers that go from the Ranch to here?"

"When the Queen died, every one of the crystals died. It already did your job in you, so it was okay that it died in you."

"And how are you alive if you didn't have the crystals to bridge the differences?"

"I don't know."

"I don't get it," Booth said.

"It's the crystals that we found." Isabel looked at his questioning face. "The ones that bridge the distance between humans and aliens."

"Genetic differences," Liz clarified. "But it couldn't have survived. We killed all of it."

"Yeah, when we killed Grant."

"Isabel!" Isabel frowned and Liz began to approach the substance. "How could Alex have known this? He was reluctant to accept the fact that we were aliens. Well, the three of you."

"He might have rejected the idea because there was already proof." It was Brennan who spoke, looking oddly at the blue crystals, following Liz as she began her descent toward the odd structures.

"Bones, stay away from psychology," Booth advised, grabbing her around the waist as she began to fall.

"Good news, it's just a frozen lake!" Liz answered, studying the odd structures. "It formed this way underneath the sand, but then the sand moved. I have no idea why it's still standing. I'm not a geologist."

"Alien?" Isabel asked, admiring some of the more interesting ones.

"Maybe. It's definitely lake water. That Hodgins person; if we send him a picture, would he be able to identify the cause?"

"He'd probably also need a sample to confirm," Brennan answered, staring at the same stalk Liz was. "But we can't just take it."

"There aren't any trails near here, and we aren't anywhere near where people play." Liz looked at her, but when she realized she won, she broke off a bit of the stalk and stuck it in her pocket.

"That's illegal," Booth shouted.

"So shoot me," Liz walked right past him and left for the car. "Am I going back alone?" She looked at the other three expectantly before they finally followed along. She led them to the car, taking twenty minutes to get there, looking at her landmarks she established on the way there to get back. She got in as soon as Booth unlocked the doors and went for his phone, which was beeping angrily. She looked at the missed call, and immediately put it on speaker. Booth was angry at her until he heard the message over the phone.

"We have to do something," Liz said, passing Brennan the sample from the lake. "He sounds sick, and he promised you complete safety."

"It's probably just a cold."

"The last time we thought Michael had a cold, he nearly lost himself in his own mind," Isabel said nonchalantly.

"So, if he catches a cold, he'll most likely die?"

"Yeah, and we left the healing stones. It's not worth it to get them," Liz said, trying to breathe deeply.

"It's my brother's life," Isabel nearly screamed.

"It's my husband's life. I'm saying that we can't go back there because they could have figured out where our stuff is. We can't go back there; we don't know if they know that we are so close. And they were probably trained under Pierce."

"There's too much going on. We have our mothers in FBI custody, Max is sick, Booth is in trouble, and his son was almost tortured with a hot poker. We have too much to do before the FBI realizes that Booth is working with the most wanted," Isabel listed off, attempting to change the subject.

"Our priority is to protect Booth and his son. When we're done with that, if he follows through, our mothers will be released. And Michael can deal with Max. I'm fairly certain that Maria can be caring towards him when Michael isn't."

"Why aren't you worried about Max?"

"Because I can't right now! I need to worry about keeping them safe. I've kept all of you safe for ten years now, and it's time that I keep another safe for awhile. I just can't do everything at once. If you think it's necessary, why don't you go to Max and take care of him?"

"What?"

"I mean it; if you are so worried, why don't you go help him?"

"Because he's a thousand miles away and you're here, so…"

"You're going to stay to protect me because I'm so important to Max," Liz finished for her slowly, nodding with recognition. She took a deep breath before going back to her explanation, being careful to say it lightly. "We have to trust that they can take care of Max. We can't stop this because he's sick. Just keep him from dying; we've seen what happens to Michael.

"We'll check in on them tonight. I'm sure they'll understand why we stayed here if we tell Max first."

Isabel didn't say anything; she merely resumed her moody self. Liz sighed with sad understanding before buckling the seat belt and settling in to listen to Brennan's conversation with Hodgins.

"You took a sample! Isn't that illegal?"

"I didn't do it. Liz did. We're going to send it to you overnight. We're coming back tomorrow."

"Two days? I'll have everything I can."

"Hey, Brennan. How's it going?" Angela asked.

"Angela, it's not a pleasure call. I'll talk to you soon." She hung up the phone and looked out the front window.

"So, why are we leaving tomorrow?" Liz inquired, looking at Isabel, wondering how she could cheer her.

"We can't stay after doing that," Brennan answered.

"If you leave town right now, they might suspect you have something; that you're guilty of something. If you took any evidence from it, they'll know if you leave anything there."

"Then what do we do?"

"We just keep checking in with them but we don't have to go to the park. We can just stay at the hotel, doing whatever," Isabel answered, her top teeth pulling at her lip to hide her smile.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Booth demanded defensively.

"It means that we have a couple of days that we can spend doing absolutely nothing."

"Don't they have a list that can say whether we were there or not?"

"Yeah. We can just go to the station in a couple of days and tell them that we were studying the case in the hotel. Meantime, we can have fun, or, if you're concerned about it, we can go and play in the dunes."

"With what?"

"We can make sleds, remember?" Liz said. "But I really want to go swimming at the pool. Could we do that?"

"I'll go with you," Isabel offered, almost snapping at her.

"We'll stay in our room."

"Then it's a good idea for us to go downstairs," Liz whispered to Isabel, both nearly laughing too loud.

* * *

"They haven't called back yet. They might be out," Maria said, sitting down on the opposite side of the bed and shutting her phone. "How are you feeling?"

"Ice," he whispered painfully.

"Yeah." Maria rose, stowed the phone on the shelf, and went up to Michael. "Why won't Liz come to him?" She looked him in the eyes, but when he didn't say anything, she moved to get more ice. She bumped into Michael, who felt her sobs and pulled her into a hug, which she tried to wriggle out of. "I need to get ice for Max."

"Why are you doing all of this for him?" Michael asked, turning the water into ice.

"Because I know how much it would destroy Liz if he died, and I care for her. Plus, we don't want you to become king," Maria retorted, rather brashly.


	11. Chapter 11

Liz was slowly swimming in the water while Isabel was flipping through a magazine absentmindedly. Their concerns involved the safety of their parents and of Max. They still hadn't heard anything at all from Hodgins, which meant that they were no further in the investigation. There was nothing to do but brood and talk.

"So we aren't going after our mothers because Booth can try to get them sprung from jail?" Isabel offered, throwing aside her magazine disgustedly. "Did you see how he reacted to discovering the Special Unit? It's like he doesn't believe that government conspiracies and cover-ups can happen."

"Then aren't you glad you're not a princess in this life?" Liz asked, turning upright in the water and beginning to move toward Isabel.

"I don't know. I never really played princess when I was a child. It never really interested me."

"That's because six-year-olds don't really factor in the fact that there's more to it than just pretty dresses and tiaras."

"What did your parents do to you?"

"I don't know. All I know is that being a princess isn't like what it is in a fairy tale and it's not a life I would choose for myself."

"So you would rather be a queen," Isabel affirmed with a tiny hint of inquiry.

"I wouldn't be either. It just so happened that the man I married was a king; that the man I love used to sit on a throne. Do you have any idea how much he doesn't want to call the shots?"

"I'm sorry, Liz, but we're still going to disagree on this. You can call it duty, and I can call it pleasure…"

"And we can end the discussion there?" Liz asked pleadingly. She was at the edge of the pool now and they were playfully staring at each other. Isabel looked away finally, laughing. The two of them most often acted like sisters.

They had spent two days at the pool just so they could get out of their room, away from the variety of noises coming from Booth's and Brennan's next door, and because they needed some exercise. They were laughing it up because they finally had some time alone and could talk about anything without any intrusions.

"It's kind of weird when you think of how we got here. Of how we all became so close."

"Sad, too. I will never deny that."

"I'm so sorry that Jesse or Alex couldn't be here with you."

"Kyle's helping me through it. Not in the way you're thinking of, but still being a good friend to me. But I think I needed to get away from all of the drama that's been going on with Michael and Maria."

"You mean that drama that's always going on between them? I'm used to it by now. You just let Maria talk while you do something else. Michael's a little bit more tricky, but he doesn't exactly come to me for comfort, so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to figure him out."

"Michael's definitely a puzzle, but you learn to love him for everything. He'll kill you if you don't after all this time."

"He's sort of like a brother, but not as familiar as one for me as for you and Max. So I love him, but I think it's more out of habit than out of actual interactions."

"I love him because he's always been family to me. I can't imagine life without him."

"I think we've become a family throughout all of this. We all belong together and we all love each other, we all feel each other's pain and help each other through it, and we can't live without each other. We'd all be devastated if one of us dies."

"Well, if Kyle dies, then Michael might be a little bit happy. He doesn't exactly like all of us humans except for Maria, and even that's flaky."

"But he'll get through it. He defies authority, and that's why he shows dislike for Max. But I think we all know that he loves him like a brother."

"Yeah. And you do know that I love you like the sister I never had, right?" Liz asked, pushing away from the edge of the pool to swim again.

"I think I do. Do we really act like sisters?"

"We're kind of gossiping now, and we both hate each other sometimes. I think that's the loose definition of sisters."

"Well, it's nice to know that someone will be there for me. It can get a little difficult to get to know people when you really are alien."

"Hey, I'm partially alien, too. A little less than you, but still alien. I'm just a little worried that at any moment Booth will call someone and have Max, Michael, Maria, and Kyle hauled into the Special Unit."

"He wouldn't do that. We saved his son."

"Yes, and I don't believe that there is a Special Unit of the FBI. The government wouldn't do that to us," Booth defied, walking into the pool area with a partially buttoned Oxford and swim trunks.

"Anyway, where exactly did they find the bones of that child?"

"Under the metro. Seemed like he was dumped there and left to rot." He got quieter as he explained.

"Booth," Isabel reached over and touched his hand, "we won't let that happen to your son. We will protect him until there is no reason to anymore. It's not your fault that he got taken in the first place."

"Have you done this a lot?" he asked, looking at both women for answers.

"We've saved children, but we have rarely ever met even one parent of the child. We ask where they live and we drop them on the front step, lingering long enough to make sure that they make it safely into the arms of their parent. We don't want credit for what we've done. We do it out of the goodness of our hearts," Isabel answered, almost with a hint of contempt.

"Then why would the FBI be after you?" Booth asked, unbuttoning his shirt.

"Because we're…different," Liz answered. "We have special genes that could defy humanity, and the FBI wants to study it. We don't want to be lab rats for killers."

"Who said anything about killing you?"

"Well, you know they tortured Max. Who's to say they won't kill, especially when they have all pulled guns on us?" Isabel asked.

"But not everyone in the FBI is like that." He pulled off his shirt and jumped into the water.

"I'm beginning to think that you won't kill us," Liz replied when he surfaced. "Even though technically we kidnapped your son for a few days."

"The way I see it, you were watching him for a few days until I could come and claim him. How did you guys even find me?"

"I dream-walked through your mind," Isabel answered calmly, readjusting her position to a more serious one where she could face the both of them. "It's a power that I have where I can see what a person is dreaming, but I can't change it in any way. I can ask questions and I can be seen and heard when I want to be, but the dream is all up to you. You recognized me at the airport because I went through your dream. It's a gift sometimes, but you can find yourself seeing things you don't want to see."

"Creepy, but okay. So, can you walk through anyone's dreams?"

"Sure."

"If you walk through Parker's, could you possibly identify the attacker? We could have Angela do a sketch drawing if you describe them," Booth offered.

"Couldn't you have Parker do that for you if he saw their face?" Isabel asked. "It's not going to do any good. Liz said that their faces were covered and virtually unidentifiable. We might be able to get some shape to it, but no real facial features." Isabel paused at this hard truth. Be it a truth, it was still hard to grasp.

Liz lunged for him in the water to touch his arm. "Booth, we are doing everything that we can possibly do to make sure that we get whoever is responsible for this. I'm sorry that it's not going so fast, but we are doing what we can."

"Why can't we do this for Parker, even with inhuman resources? We've solved cases like this without aliens before!"

"Now that's just low," Isabel whined.

"We have to protect Parker," Maria answered to Michael's repeated question. "Yes, we don't have Max's help, but, Michael, we have to keep him safe. You are the most alien of all of us. You have to be able to use them whenever necessary."

"Thanks, Maria," Kyle said from the living room.

"Kyle, don't start with me today." She turned back to Michael. "Please, just stay here. We have enough food and water that we don't need to run out. We need to make sure that Max is alright and we need to keep Parker away from prying eyes. I can't do it alone."

"I know that. But Isabel and Liz are under constant threat. Who's to say that Booth character won't turn them and us in? We've got to be careful if for any reason he decides to turn on us."

"He wouldn't do that. We have his son. He could claim kidnapping, but it's six against one, and maybe two. I think that Bone Lady might actually have a better conscience despite the fact that she has no sense of sarcasm.

"We'll just have to trust them. I don't want to, but they're our only hope." Maria turned back to Max with a worried frown on her face. Michael was right in his worry, but for now they would just have to trust them.


End file.
